The Worst Trade Acquisition For All 30 NBA Teams In Their Franchises History
NBA trades can either help a struggling team attain their desire to be competitive or cripple a plausible contender for the foreseeable future due to bad acquisitions. It can launch a career for a struggling player if the right opportunity comes along his way. Teams also swap unhappy stars for a fresh start with a new team, but this often ends in a disaster.
Franchises often trade future draft picks for much more proven players, but these yet-eligible players could possibly turn out as stars as well in the long run.
Today, we will list each NBA team’s worst trade acquisitions through the years. We will include every lopsided and baffling trade throughout the history of the league.
What are the worst trade acquisitions for each NBA team?
Atlanta Hawks – Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan
Back in St. Louis, the Hawks were eager to trade for Macauley and Hagan for the number 2 pick in the 1956 NBA draft. The problem is that the player the Hawks traded to the Celtics was a guy named Bill Russell.
Boston Celtics – Rodney Rogers and Tony Delk
This trade seemingly looked like a steal for Boston as both guys were solid NBA role players in their time with the team. However, they gave up on then-rookie Joe Johnson, who eventually scored more than 20,000 points in his NBA career.
Brooklyn Nets – Ben Simmons
The Nets thought they could rejuvenate Ben’s career after trading him for James Harden. But seeing Simmons play last season wielded disastrous results for the team. Those off-season workouts from his camp are no longer fooling anybody anymore.
Charlotte Hornets – Vlade Divac
To be fair, this wasn’t Vlade’s fault, and he issued a retirement threat to the Lakers if they pushed through with his trade to Charlotte. As for the kid with whom he was eventually traded, it was none other than a high school kid named Kobe.
Chicago Bulls – Tyson Chandler
In all honesty, Chandler had a decent career in the league and even won a championship with Dallas in 2011. But the Bulls really traded their budding franchise player, Elton Brand, to the NBA’s well-known cellar dwellers, the Clippers. Brand went on to become one of the best power forwards in the 2000s.
Cleveland Cavaliers – Darius Miles
The Cavs were essentially going all in for Miles before the 2002 NBA draft. They traded their starting point guard, the well-respected Andre Miller, to get the former high school phenom on their roster.
Dallas Mavericks – Anthony Davis and Max Christie
While AD certainly is an All-NBA talent, if I were the Mavericks, I wouldn’t trade Luka Doncic for anything less than 10 future first-rounders and a couple of impact players. You don’t trade a generational superstar who’s entering his prime years for a guy who’s near the end of his prime with bad knees. This was a generational fumble by the Mavs.
Denver Nuggets – T.R. Dunn
The Nuggets were ecstatic when they got their hands on then-promising rookie Dunn by trading their future 1983 first-round pick. The sad part is, when 1983 came around, that pick became Clyde Drexler, and the rest is history.
Detroit Pistons – Allen Iverson
In a rare swap of All-star caliber point guards, Iverson was on the wrong end of this deal. Billups went ahead and balled out for the Nuggets, while the aging Iverson only lasted less than a season with Detroit.
Golden State Warriors – Joe Barry Carroll and Rickey Brown
The Warriors acquiring both seriously impacted the NBA in the 1980s as their trade partner, Boston, went on to have Robert Parish and Kevin McHale to form their dynasty. Ouch.
Houston Rockets – Charles Barkley
Houston gave up basically their entire championship rotation for an old and past-prime version of Sir Charles. Was a three-peat on the cards if they stuck to their guys, such as Sam Cassell and Robert Horry? That’s plausible.
Indiana Pacers – George Hill
This one still haunts Indiana to this day. They traded their 15th pick in the 2011 NBA draft, which was none other than Kawhi Leonard, in exchange for Spurs backup combo guard George Hill. The Spurs fleeced them big time with this one.
Los Angeles Clippers – Mo Williams and Jamario Moon
The Clippers wanted to get rid of an often-injured Baron Davis and his huge 2011 contract as soon as possible. They happily traded him to the Cavs for Williams, Moon, and an unprotected first-round pick, who later became Kyrie Irving.
Los Angeles Lakers – Dwight Howard
This was a complicated four-team trade in 2012, but the Lakers basically surrendered their bench rotation and a myriad of future NBA draft picks for Howard. Sadly, the bright lights of LA were too bright for Dwight, and he only lasted one season with the team.
Memphis Grizzlies – O.J. Mayo
The Grizzlies already had their hands on UCLA’s Kevin Love in the 2008 NBA draft, but after a chaotic eight-team trade, they lost the talented forward to acquire the underwhelming guard Mayo.
Miami Heat – Andrew Wiggins
Wiggins has never had any impressive year in the league except the entire 2022 season. Yeah, Jimmy Butler has become a headache, but they could have hauled in more for him than just getting the underwhelming Wiggins from the Warriors.
Milwaukee Bucks – Robert Traylor
Milwaukee was ecstatic when they landed Traylor in exchange for the unproven Dirk Nowitzki and Pat Garrity in the 1998 NBA draft. This is considered one of the biggest heists in NBA history.
Minnesota Timberwolves – Marko Jaric
The Wolves unexpectedly traded a recently named All-Star Sam Cassell to the Clippers in exchange for Marko Jaric in a bid to get their backcourt younger. As we all know now, this trade haunted Minnesota for years.
New Orleans Pelicans – Al-Farouq Aminu, Eric Gordon and Chris Kaman
All three were decent players for the Pelicans, but after months of speculation, they had to give up a disgruntled Chris Paul hastily to the Clippers. Paul is a future NBA Hall of Famer, and this trade was a disaster for New Orleans at the time.
New York Knicks – Keith Van Horn
Dolan had enough of Sprewell’s antics and decided to trade the fan favorite to Minnesota for the underwhelming Keith Van Horn. The former second-overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft only played 47 games for the Knicks.
Oklahoma City Thunder/Seattle SuperSonics – Olden Polynice
While Polynice enjoyed a 14-year career in the league, the Sonics were robbed blatantly by the Bulls as they got their hands on a then-unproven Scottie Pippen, who became one of the best small forwards in the history of the league.
Orlando Magic – Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova
Tobias Harris was starting to ball out with Orlando but was still dealt for the overrated Jennings and career journeyman Ilyasova. The move didn’t move any needles for Orlando in their post-Howard era.
Philadelphia 76ers – Jeff Hornacek, Andrew Lang and Tim Perry
Not to disrespect the three, but their careers aren’t remotely comparable to Charles Barkley’s. The Sixers didn’t get anything close to a return for their franchise player, but it was a necessary trade for the team because of Barkley’s public outbursts whenever he speaks to the NBA media.
Phoenix Suns – Stephon Marbury
There was not a lot of hate for Jason Kidd and Stephon Marbury’s swap in 2001, but looking at it years later, this was as lopsided as it gets. Kidd found another gear to elevate his game while Marbury’s star quickly dimmed in the mid-2000s.
Portland Trail Blazers – Dale Davis
Davis was a solid big man in his career, but the Blazers gave up too soon on a young Jermaine O’Neal. O’Neal immediately flourished in his time with Indiana after the trade.
Sacramento Kings – Charlie Paulk and Flynn Robinson
The 1970 exchange of these two lesser-known players for Oscar Robertson still baffles fans to this day. Rumors have swirled wildly about why this trade even happened, and Roberston has stayed mum about the issue all these years.
San Antonio Spurs – Will Perdue
Rodman was becoming a headache for the Spurs, so they took the chance to swap him for Chicago’s Will Perdue. It turns out that Scottie and Mike could ‘control’ Rodman’s behavior en route to winning a three-peat from 1996 to 1998.
Toronto Raptors – Alonzo Mourning, Aaron Williams and Eric Williams
Mourning was supposedly the centerpiece of Vince Carter’s ousting in Canada, but the Raptors were forced to waive him after the All-NBA center refused to play for them after the trade. Carter then enjoyed his prime years with the Nets alongside Jason Kidd.
Utah Jazz – John Drew and Freeman Williams
Utah’s biggest mistake was their lack of communication with Dominique Wilkin’s camp ahead of the 1982 NBA draft. He was not interested in playing for the team, and the Jazz had no choice but to trade him to Atlanta after they selected him 3rd overall.
Washington Wizards – Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe
When Sacramento swapped Richmond and Thorpe in exchange for Chris Webber in 1998, this was widely viewed as an even trade. But Richmond was exiting his prime years as a member of the Wizards, and Webber was just 25 at the time. Chris Webber’s maturity eventually caught on and catapulted the lowly Kings into title contention in the early 2000s.
The Worst Trade Acquisition For All 30 NBA Teams In Their Franchises History
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